California Restraining Orders: Domestic Violence vs. Civil Harassment
California has four main civil restraining orders, and the one you need is decided almost entirely by your relationship to the other person. A spouse, ex, dating partner, co-parent, or close relative goes through the domestic violence order. A neighbor, coworker, acquaintance, or stranger goes through the civil harassment order. A person 65 or older, or a dependent adult, has a dedicated elder abuse order. An employer protecting an employee uses the workplace violence order. The four use different definitions of abuse, standards of proof, and filing rules.
The four orders at a glance
- Domestic Violence Restraining Order (DVRO) — Family Code section 6200 and following (the Domestic Violence Prevention Act). Filed on form DV-100. For spouses and former spouses, people who live or lived together, people who are or were dating or engaged, the other parent of your child, and relatives by blood or marriage within the second degree (parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, and in-laws of the same degree).
- Civil Harassment Restraining Order (CHRO) — Code of Civil Procedure section 527.6. Filed on form CH-100. For everyone who does not fit the domestic violence list.
- Elder or Dependent Adult Abuse Restraining Order — Welfare and Institutions Code section 15657.03. Filed on form EA-100. For a person 65 or older, or an adult 18 to 64 with physical or mental limitations that restrict normal activities.
- Workplace Violence Restraining Order — Code of Civil Procedure section 527.8. Filed on form WV-100. Only an employer (or an employee’s collective bargaining representative) can file it, on behalf of an employee who has been threatened or attacked.
Filing the wrong one usually means starting over.
What “abuse” means under the domestic violence act
The domestic violence definition is the broadest of the four. Abuse includes intentionally or recklessly causing or attempting to cause bodily injury, sexual assault, and placing someone in reasonable fear of imminent serious injury. But the statute says plainly that abuse is not limited to physical injury or assault. It also includes any conduct the court can enjoin under Family Code section 6320: stalking, threatening, harassing, unwanted contact, destroying personal property, and “disturbing the peace” of the other party.
Since January 1, 2021, disturbing the peace has had a statutory definition: conduct that, based on the totality of the circumstances, destroys the other person’s mental or emotional calm. The statute expressly names coercive control — a pattern of behavior that unreasonably interferes with a person’s free will and personal liberty — and gives examples: isolating the person from friends, relatives, or other support; depriving them of basic necessities; controlling or monitoring their movements, communications, finances, or access to services; compelling conduct by force, threat, or intimidation, including threats based on immigration status; and, under an amendment effective January 1, 2026, reproductive coercion. Conduct through a third party, by text, or online counts. The statute allows the court to issue the order on the requesting party’s testimony alone.
What “harassment” means for a civil harassment order
The civil harassment statute is narrower. Harassment is unlawful violence (assault, battery, or stalking), a credible threat of violence, or a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person that seriously alarms, annoys, or harasses them, serves no legitimate purpose, would cause a reasonable person substantial emotional distress, and actually does cause it. A course of conduct means a series of acts over time showing a continuity of purpose. One rude confrontation with a neighbor rarely qualifies; a months-long pattern of showing up, messaging, and following usually does.
The elder abuse order uses the elder abuse definitions instead, which reach physical abuse, neglect, financial abuse, abandonment, isolation, and abduction. The workplace order requires unlawful violence or a credible threat of violence against the employee.
How the process works: a temporary order, then a hearing
All four orders follow the same two-step shape. You file the request, and a judge decides the same day or by the next business day whether to issue a temporary restraining order without the other side present. It takes effect once served. The court then sets a hearing, which by statute must be held within 21 days of the temporary order being granted or denied, or 25 days for good cause. Both sides present evidence, and the judge decides whether to issue a longer order.
A DVRO can last up to five years, and if the judge does not write in a date, it lasts three. It can be renewed, on a request made in the last three months before it expires, for five more years or permanently, and renewal does not require proof of any new abuse. A civil harassment order can also last up to five years and can be renewed for up to five more without a showing of further harassment. An elder abuse order runs up to five years, renewable for five years or permanently. A workplace violence order is shorter: up to three years, renewable in three-year increments.
The burden of proof is different, and it matters
This is the most practical difference. A domestic violence order requires “reasonable proof of a past act or acts of abuse,” and the courts of appeal have held that the standard is a preponderance of the evidence — more likely than not. The elder abuse order uses the same standard. A civil harassment order, and a workplace violence order, require the judge to find harassment by clear and convincing evidence, a substantially higher bar.
In plain terms: if you had a qualifying relationship, the domestic violence order is not only the correct one, it is generally the easier one to obtain. If you did not, expect the court to want a documented pattern.
What an order does to the restrained person
A restraining order is not just a piece of paper telling someone to stay away. The consequences follow the person for years, which is why defending against one deserves the same seriousness as seeking one.
Firearms. A person under any of these orders may not own, possess, purchase, or receive a firearm or ammunition while it is in effect. Under the domestic violence statute, the restrained person must turn in any firearms immediately if the serving officer asks, and otherwise within 24 hours of service, to law enforcement or a licensed dealer, and must file proof with the court within 48 hours. Missing that deadline is itself a violation.
Custody. Under Family Code section 3044, a finding that a parent committed domestic violence against the other parent, the child, or certain other family members within the previous five years creates a rebuttable presumption that giving that parent sole or joint custody is detrimental to the child. Rebutting it requires showing, among other things, that custody is in the child’s best interest, that any ordered batterer’s program was completed, and that the parent has complied with the order.
Criminal exposure. Intentionally and knowingly violating any of these orders is a misdemeanor under Penal Code section 273.6, punishable by up to a year in county jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both, with higher penalties if the violation causes injury. The order is also entered in the statewide law enforcement database.
Fees
There is no filing fee for a domestic violence restraining order request, the response to one (form DV-120), or papers to modify or enforce one. The same is true for elder abuse orders. A civil harassment request has no fee when it is based on violence, a credible threat of violence, or stalking; otherwise the standard civil filing fee applies, and a fee waiver is available to those who qualify. The response, form CH-120, is free to file.
What to bring to the hearing
The hearing is short, and the judge decides on what is in front of them. Whether you are asking for the order or opposing it, bring:
- Printed copies of every text, email, voicemail transcript, and social media message you rely on, organized by date, with the other side’s name or number visible;
- Photographs of injuries or property damage, with dates;
- Police reports, medical records, and any prior orders;
- Witnesses who saw the events, or their signed declarations; and
- Three copies of everything: one for the judge, one for the other side, one for you.
Write out a timeline before you go, and be able to point to the exhibit for each date. If you are the responding party, the single most important step is to show up. If you do not attend, the court can issue the order against you for up to five years on the other side’s evidence alone. File the response, bring your own evidence, and be ready to address each incident alleged.
Restraining orders and custody are tightly linked; see How California Courts Decide Child Custody. Abuse of an older relative often has a financial side, covered in Financial Elder Abuse in California: What the Law Lets You Recover.
Facing a restraining order hearing, on either side of it? Ask a legal question.